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Categories: Interview
Tags: mmo
Last June, Jason Rockwood announced a survey which looked at sexuality issues in gaming. Called the Gaymer Survey, this study included questions about homophobia in MMOs, sexy avatars, and asked gamers to identify their gender along a spectrum. Last week, Jason published the results and was nice enough to answer a few of Game Couch’s questions.
Jason RockwoodGC: Hi Jason, before we get into the survey results, can you tell me a little about yourself?
Jason: I am a New York City-based independent researcher and human resources consultant. I research pop culture and society with an emphasis on emerging technology and digital natives; in addition to this pure research, I also help corporations understand digital natives and create work environments that are appropriate for the way digital natives work, think, live, and play.
GC: How did digital natives become an area of focus for you?
Jason: I’m just interested in helping people get along… young/old, gay/straight, etc. The differences between digital natives and digital immigrants and the conflicts between them was a natural extension of this desire to attenuate conflict.
GC: The “Gaymer survey” was done under the auspices of the University of Illinois Department of Speech Communication. Where’s the connection between homosexuality, gaming, and speech communication?
Jason: My work falls under the academic discipline known as “cultural studies.” Speech communication is the broader academic discipline which typically houses cultural studies.
GC: Where did the terms “gaymer” and “gayming” come from?
Jason: Gaymer came from Gaymer.org, and I just picked it up…. I don’t think anyone knows who coined it first. “Gayming” is not really a term… I just used it in my survey to test the waters.
GC: Were you surprised by the response to the survey?
Jason: I was surprised by the level of interest, certainly. Ten thousand respondents is almost unheard of in the research community.
GC: And anyone could take the survey?
Jason: The survey was open to anyone.
As it turned out, if you look at the question asking the respondent’s biological sex, only a very small percent of women took the survey. For that reason, my analysis will focus only on men at first, and then at a later time I can look at smaller subsets in the sample.
GC: Where did Nintendogs fit into your survey?
Jason: Nintendogs is an example of a game that features content atypical of the majority of games. I wanted to see if there was anything telling about the responses.
GC: Regarding question 46, when you wrote “gay or lesbian content” what were you considering (more homosexual characters, storylines that revolved around gay issues, something else)?
Jason: All of the above, or none of the above…. I didn’t have anything specific in mind.
GC: Question 50, 62% of the respondents “frequently win.” Shouldn’t that number be lower?
Jason: I research what is, not what should be. :-)
GC: That’s true, but isn’t there a chance that some participants gave false answers. Were there any failsafes in place?
Jason: There were 10,000 respondents. That is a failsafe…
As for question 50, the distribution curve looks like what I would expect a marketer would want the distribution curve to look like for a given game. Some people win always, most win often, and a smaller number win hardly ever or never. Besides, frequently is a relative term…
GC: Question 64 asked about writing backstories for characters. What was the impetus for this question?
Jason: The survey was created not only for my own interests, but to create a foundation for other researchers in the field. That particular question was included for a different researcher who studies that topic.
GC: Homosexual characters have been embraced by graphic novels, anime and manga. Why do you think (or do you) things are different when it comes to gaming?
Jason: Graphic novels, anime and manga are essentially not interactive media, so there is little chance for a heterosexual to be exposed unwillingly to gay or bi content or themes. Equally important is the fact that the resources (time, money, skill, distribution) needed to create niche videogames are infinitely higher than in the case of anime, etc. As long as the industry follows a blockbuster model of producing content, they will have to produce games that are not “offensive” which is how many heterosexuals still view gay and bi people. From the survey: 75% of the people who opposed gay marriage in games were heterosexual.
GC: Now that the survey results have been published, what happens next?
Jason: Game developers shake off their homophobia and begin to produce videogames that let users choose the sex and sexual orientation of their characters, regardless of content, and gamers stop using gayness as a put down. (If only that were true…)